Method and system for service portability across disjoint wireless networks

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing services to a communication session anchored to a micro wireless network includes providing at a router of the micro wireless network an interface for communication with a service node of a macro wireless network that is coupled to the micro wireless network. The interface is of a same type as used by a radio access network of the macro wireless network to communicate with the service node. Information associated with the session is communicated between the interface and the service node in a format used by the service node to communicate with the radio access network of the macro wireless network. The macro network provides portability services to the session of the micro wireless network through the interface.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/299,356 filed Nov. 18, 2002 and entitled “Method and System forService Portability Across Disjoint Wireless Networks.”

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to the field of wireless communicationsand, more particularly, to a method and system for service portabilityacross disjoint wireless networks.

BACKGROUND

Traditional macro wireless networks such as code division multipleaccess (CDMA) networks include a number of base transceiver stations(BTSs), mobile switching centers (MSCs) and base station controllers(BSCs). The BTSs each cover a geographic region, or cell, of thewireless network and communicate with mobile telephones in the cell. TheMSCs/BSCs provide switch and soft handoff functionality for the wirelessnetwork.

Micro wireless networks, such as wireless local access networks (WLANs),typically include a number of access points (similar to macro basestations) and several IP routing devices. The access points each cover ageographic region of the WLAN and communicate with mobile devices in thelocal network. The IP routing devices provide connectivity to an IPnetwork, and manage the mobility of the micro devices within a micronetwork.

Mobile vendors offer dual mode phones capable of communicating with bothmacro and micro networks. Current proposals to provide serviceportability for such devices across the macro and micro networks includerunning Mobile IP applications on end devices, running Proxy Mobile IPapplications on access points or other devices, treating the WLAN cellsas disjoint cells with respect to the macro cells.

SUMMARY

A method and system for service portability across disjointed wirelessnetworks is provided. In a particular embodiment, a micro wirelessnetwork is coupled to a macro wireless network and communicates with aservice node of the macro wireless network through an interface of thesame type as used by a radio access network within the macro network tocommunicate with the service node.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method andsystem for providing services to a communication session anchored to amicro wireless network includes providing at a router of the microwireless network an interface for communication with a packet dataservice node of a macro wireless network that is coupled to the microwireless network. The interface is of a same type as used by a radioaccess network of the macro wireless network to communicate with thepacket data service node. Information associated with the session iscommunicated between the interface and the packet data service node in aformat used by the service node to communicate with the radio accessnetwork of the macro wireless network. The macro network provides macronetwork services to the session of the micro wireless network throughthis interface.

Technical advantages of one or more embodiments of the invention includeproviding macro wireless network services to micro network sessions. Ina particular embodiment, all or substantially all of the internetprotocol (IP) services defined for the macro network may be used for awireless local access network such as traffic shaping, locationservices, prepaid billing, differential billing through the use of themacro infrastructure. Thus network operators may provide enhancedservices, therefore generating increased revenue, based on new services.

Other technical advantages may include allowing mobile users toseamlessly or otherwise move between micro and macro network accesstechnologies such as the 802.11 standard and code division multipleaccess (CDMA) standard. Still another technical advantage may includeproviding traffic shaping or flow control, of various users under awireless local access network (WLAN) standard, without requiringrevision of the WLAN standard. Another technical advantage may includeproviding user authentication and verification in conjunction with theWLAN standards and interfaces. Still another technical advantage mayinclude providing mobile IP applications operable to be engaged duringhandover or cross access technologies.

Yet other technical advantages may include managing the traffic in thepublic wireless WLAN networks without disturbing the currently deployednetworks. Moreover simplified billing and authenticated proceduresstemming from a single data based management for user services andassociated definitions may also be achieved. In addition, simple IP,mobile IP and proxy mobile IP may be used without having to depend onthe end devices carrying the mobile IP application or access pointscarrying proxy mobile IP applications.

Other technical advantages will be readily apparent to one skilled inthe art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims. Moreover,some, all, or none of the above technical advantages may be included inthe various embodiments of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and itsadvantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numeralsrepresent like parts, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating coupled macro and micro wirelesscommunication networks in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing a datacall in the micro network of FIG. 1 through a macro network inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing a voicecall in a micro network of FIG. 1 in accordance with another embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for handover of a sessionfrom the micro network to the macro network in accordance with anotherembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for handover of a sessionfrom the macro network to the micro network in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a communication system 10 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Communicationsystem 10 may transmit voice, audio, video, text, data and/or othertypes of information from one point to another. Communication system 10includes a macro wireless network 20 and a micro wireless network 30.The macro wireless network 20 includes a wide transmitter range ofterminals based on a large number of transmitter/receiver devices on theinfrastructure side. Transceivers of the macro wireless network 20 arescattered over an area to cover a fairly reasonable or large sizegeographic zone. The micro wireless network 30 includes smallergeographic coverage areas focused on high-density customers. Forexample, the micro network may cover an airport, corporate facility orcampus or transport hub. As described in more detail below, the macroand micro networks 20 and 30 are loosely coupled to each other toprovide service portability are portable between the networks and toallow traffic may be exchanged by the networks.

Macro network 20 may be a code division multiple access (CDMA) or othersuitable network. For example, the macro network 20 may be an IS-95 CDMAnetwork, W-CDMA network, CDMA-2000 network or other network such as auniversal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) network. In the CDMAembodiment, the macro network 20 may include a packet data serving node(PDSN) 40 coupling one or more base station controllers (BSC) 42 of oneor more radio access networks (RAN) 43 to a public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) gateway 44 and to an internet protocol (IP) or otherpacket network such as the internet 45. RAN 43 provides an interfacebetween transceiver stations and the communication network of the macrowireless network 20 to support voice and data communication.

The PDSN 40 and BSC 42 are also coupled to a core control network thatperforms authentication and sets up and disconnects calls from mobileunits, or nodes, in communication with the RAN 43. The core network alsostores service level agreements for each user and provides theagreements to the PDSN 40 for service management, traffic management orother appropriate operations.

In one embodiment, the core control network may include a mobileswitching center (MSC) 46 coupled to BSC 42. MSC 46 is also coupled to acontrol plane signaling system 7 (SS7) gateway 48, which is coupled to ahome location register (HLR) 50. HLR 50 is coupled through an SS7 48 toan IP/TP protocol converter (ITP) 52. ITP 52 is coupled to a billingauthentication, administration, and accounting server (AAA) 54. PDSN 40is also coupled to AAA 54; and may communicate using the Radiusprotocol. The core control network may further include a policy server56 and a location server 58 coupled to PDSN 40.

MSC 46 is operable to provide, in conjunction with the BSC 42, switchand handoff functionality for a macro network 20. In this way, voice,video, data text and other information is routed to and from a mobilenode and connections are maintained with a mobile node as it movesbetween the cells of the RAN 43. In a particular embodiment, MSC 46 maycommunicate with PDSN 40 via BSC 42 using a wireless-specific interface.A wireless-specific interface is an interface or protocol especiallyadapted for radio frequency or mobile traffic or signaling and nottypically used by wire line networks. MSC 46 may communicate with PDSN40 using media gateway control protocol (MGCP)/common open policy server(COPS) protocols.

HLR 50 provides a subscriber database storing information related to themobile nodes and/or users, such as by name, address, account number,account type and any other suitable information. HLR 50 includessubscriber information for users of the macro network 20 as well as forusers of the micro network 30. AAA server 54 provides reconciliationbetween different systems. Policy server 56 includes functionalityoperable to access user subscriber information for the purpose ofassigning network resources in accordance with the user's subscriptionlevel as well as a network hierarchy of resource allocation in theabsence of or in conjunction with subscriber based policydeterminations. Location server 58 comprises functionality operable todetermine a location of a mobile device and may facilitate advertisingto application based servers.

PDSN 40 is a router that directs traffic in a bearer plane betweenwireless and wire line networks. PDSN 40 may also include a datainter-working function (IWF) to provide connectivity between a wirelessand wire line network via either circuit switched and/or packet switchedwireless data protocols. PDSN 40 may further include such routerservices as simple internet protocol (IP), mobile IP, and proxy mobileIP to support service portability between a wireless local accessnetwork (WLAN) and a macro network. Such router services, in connectionwith the coupling of the networks allow, in one embodiment, pre-paidbilling, data push services, traffic management, and schemas defined forthe macro network 20 to be reused for the micro network 30. Moreover, ina particular embodiment, existing mobile devices may gain access tomacro services from the micro network 30 without requiring theassociated mobile IP applications running in the mobile node, or enddevice.

To support voice calls from the micro network 30, PDSN 40 also includesvoice module 62 and vocoding functions 64. Voice module 62 is operableto couple a micro network router to the PSTN gateway 44 through areal-time protocol (RTP) connection. In particular, the voice module 62may instruct the router 76 of the micro network 30 to establish RTPstreaming pipes 90 to the PSTN gateway 44 for voice traffic. The voicemodule 62 also connects incoming voice traffic to vocoder 64. Vocoder 64is operable to convert incoming voice traffic from a mobile nodecompression format such as QCELP to a compression format used by thenetwork, such as G.2xx or G.7xx. Other suitable compression formats maybe used.

RAN 43 includes the one or more BSCs 42 each coupled to one or more basetransceiver stations (BTS) 66. As used herein, the term “each” meansevery one of at least a subset of the identified items. The BTSs 66communicate with mobile nodes 68 in associated cells over a radiofrequency (RF) link 69. The BSCs 42 each include a packet controlfunction (PCF) 72 which shapes and otherwise controls packetstransmitted between BSC 42 and PDSN 40. The PCF 72 tunnels IP packetsbetween the RAN 43 and the PDSN 40. The PCF 72 communicates with thePDSN 40 through a well known standard interface called Radio-PDSNinterface (RP interface). PCF's 72 primary responsibility is to providelogical connectivity between the BSC 42 and the PDSN router 40 for thepurpose of IP services. PCF 72 utilizes the standard RP interfacefunctions for the purpose of establishing logical connectivity betweenthe mobile sessions with the PDSN 40.

PSTN gateway 44 is coupled to the public switched telephone network(PSTN) 70. PSTN gateway 44 includes RTP 74 to support voice sessions, orcalls, with mobile nodes 68 of the micro network 30.

Micro network 30 includes router 76 coupling a plurality of access, orhot, points 78 to the macro network 20. Access points 78 may comprisemicro base stations that communicate with mobile nodes 68 over RF link80. In one embodiment, the RF link 80 may be an 802.11b protocol link.In this embodiment, the wireless nodes 68 may include an access card foraccessing the access points 78.

The router 76 includes PCF 72 and RTP 74. PCF 72 provides a packetinterface for communicating data and other information with PDSN 40 andmay provide the same functionality in router 76 as it does in BSC 42.PCF 72 communicates, in one embodiment, IP packets over an RP protocol,or pipe. The IP packets may be encapsulated using general routing andencapsulation (GRE) protocol. Because router 76 uses an interfacesimilar or identical to that of the BSC 42, the PDSN 40 need not bereconfigured to communicate with the router 76 of the micro network 30.As in the BSC 42, the PCF 72 of the router 74 provides traffic shapingand other packet control functionality. In addition, registration in themacro and micro networks 20 and 30 is the same as is communicationbetween the mobile node 68 and PDSN 40.

Use of a standardized or other macro network serving node interferencein the micro network 30 provides a loose couple of the networks, allowslocation based services, push services, dynamic mapping with control,differentiated billing and other macro network 20 services to beprovided in the micro network 30. It also allows a single place holderfor a user profile and user services definition, ability for the serviceprovider to own the WLAN or work with other WLAN vendors, and theability to map cellular RF behavior to IP behavior. Moreover, advantagesto the service provider include providing an integrated network tosupport both macro and micro networks with access independence andservice portability as well as seamless handover. Access independence isprovided by the standardized PCF 72 interface in the micro network 30,push services are provided based on the common registration scheme inthe macro and micro networks 20 and 30 and location services are basedon information provided by the mobile node 68 to the PDSN 40 from bothnetworks 20 and 30. In addition, because subscribers may be seamlesslyor otherwise offloaded from the macro network 20 to the micro network30, resources of the macro network 20 may be spread across an increasednumber of subscribers.

In the macro and micro networks 20 and 30, the mobile nodes 68 may beany device operable to provide wireless communication with the macroand/or micro networks 20 and 30. In one embodiment, the mobile nodes 68are dual mode devices with a macro mode for communicating with a macronetwork 20 and a micro mode for communicating with micro network 30.

In the macro and micro networks 20 and 30, PDSN 40, BSC 42, MSC 46, SS748, HLR 50, ITP 52, AAA 54, PSTN gateway 44, router 76 and othercomponents may be implemented as functional instructions, code, or otherlogic encoded media. The logic encoded media may comprise softwarestored on a computer-readable medium as well as programmedapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gatearrays (FPGA) or other programmed hardware. The media may comprisedifferent mediums and may be distributed across a plurality of platformsand/or centralized.

Components of the micro and macro networks 20 and 30 may be connected orotherwise coupled to each other with any suitable type of communicationlinks supporting information transfer. In one embodiment, communicationlinks may be, alone or in combination, integrated services digitalnetwork (ISDN) links, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) links,T1 or T3 communication lines, hard-wire lines, telephone lines orwireless communication links. Other suitable links may be used.Communication links may also connect a plurality of intermediate serversand components of the system 10.

For data session from the micro network 30, in a particular embodiment,an AAA proxy is run in PDSN 40 of the macro network 20. Data and voiceand other session may be conventionally processed. The access points 78have configured IP addresses of the AAA proxy running in the PSDN sothat AAA commands may be routed during user authentication. The accesspoints 78 of the micro network 30 send L2 authentication packets to theAAA proxy running in the PSDN 40. When the AAA proxy receives AAAcommands, the AAA proxy may retrieve the subscriber information from theAAA server 54. In particular, during access authentication, a radiusaccess request is proxied by the PDSN 40 to the AAA server. The requestmay also be proxied through the IP network 45. Thus, the PDSN 40extracts the mobile node identifier (MNID), and sends RADIS accessqueries to the AAA server 54, which in turn communicates with the HLRserver 50 to retrieve the user subscriber profile. Then, the AAA proxyin the PDSN 40 may decide based on the returned information that therequested call/subscriber be treated as a Direct Access call or a ProxyMobile IP subscriber.

For a Direct Access Call the AAA proxy may create a data session recordin the PDSN 40 corresponding to the data session record for the wirelesslocal access network. As described below, the data session record maystore the IP address allocated to a specific data session. The datasession record may also identify the PDSN 40 handling the call.

After authentication, the mobile node, or access client, may use thenormal dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) mechanism to receivethe IP address. The DHCP messages may be similarly proxied by PDSN 40.The IP address assigned may then be stored in the data session record.

If the AAA proxy, based on the subscriber information, detects that thesubscriber should be treated as a proxy mobile IP subscriber, the AAAproxy may trigger the proxy mobile IP application to establish a mobileIP session with a home agent located in the core control network. Inthis case, the home agent assigns the IP address to be stored in thedata session record. Thus, when the access client uses the normal DHCPmechanism to receive an IP address, the DHCP proxy retrieves the IPaddress from the data session by the home agent, and allocates the IPaddress to the access client. Thus, in this embodiment, the WLAN network30 appears as a CDMA cell to the macro network 20. At the end of asession, PDSN 40 provides session information to the billing server forreconciliation. Thus, separator billing servers for the macro and micronetworks 20 and 30 are not needed.

Transparency of the WLAN network 30 supports service portability betweenthe networks 20 and 30 and handoffs between the networks. In oneinstance, a call may be originated from the micro network 30 and requirehandover to a macro (CDMA) cell. In this case, when the mobile node 68detects that a handover is required, normal traffic channelestablishment procedures are initiated. During the traffic channelestablishment procedures, when the PCF 72 in the BSC 42 attempts toestablish an RP session with the PDSN 40, the PDSN 40 recognizes that adata session record corresponding to the MNID of the mobile unit 68already exists, was created earlier when the mobile node 68 wasauthenticated and was given data services and an IP address. The PDSN 40then continues with normal macro session established procedures.However, because the IP address assigned to the mobile device 68 is avalid one, during the internet protocol control protocol (IPCP)negotiation the mobile node 68 does not receive a new IP address. Thus,only the logical link between the PDSN 40, PCF 72 and the mobile node 68need be and is modified. If the WLAN mobile node 68 uses PPP in lieu ofDHCP, PSDN 40 redirects the PPP packets to the new virtual link createdwith the mobile station 68 via the PCF RP interface.

A call originated from a macro (CDMA) cell may also be seamlessly orotherwise handed over to a micro cell (WLAN). When the call isoriginated from a macro cell, PDSN 40 uses the normal data sessionestablishment procedures depending on the call type, e.g., simple IP,proxy mobile IP, or mobile IP procedures. When the mobile node 68decides to handover from the macro cell to a micro (WLAN) cell, thestandard L2 authentication is triggered via the access points 78. Whenthe access points 78 forward the authentication (AAA) commands to thesame PDSN from which the data call is currently anchored, the AAAcommands check with the PDSN 40 to see if a session already existscorresponding to the MNID of the mobile station 68. If a session alreadyexists, only the virtual path via the BSC 42 needs to be and isre-anchored to be routed via the new access points 78.

If, however, the access point 78 is associated with a new PDSN 40, whenthe AAA commands are received to establish a connection, the request istreated a new request to establish a data session. The connection to theold PDSN 40 may then be timed out and released. If the new PDSN 40 ispart of a PDSN cluster, and the mobile node 68 previously established aconnection with another PDSN 40 in the same cluster, the cluster managermay route the request to the previous PDSN 40 to accomplish themacro-to-micro handoff.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method for processing a data session from the micronetwork 30 through the macro network 20 in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the datasession is processed through PCF 72 of router 76 in the micro wirelessnetwork 30. PCF 72 uses RP to establish a session between PCF 72 andPDSN 40 and communicates IP packets to PDSN 40 using GRE protocol andthrough an RP pipe.

The method begins at step 100 wherein the data session is initiated inthe micro network 30. In one embodiment, the session, or call, isinitiated by a mobile node 68. Next at step 105, an access point 78 of amicro network 20 with which the mobile node 68 is communicating isidentified. In one embodiment an access point 78 is identified andassociated with the initiated data call.

Next at step 110 the device and/or user initiating the data call isauthenticated. In one embodiment, access point 78 communicates with arouter 76, which in turn communicates with PCF 72 to access the AAAproxy of PDSN 40 in the macro network 20. Next at step 115, after theauthentication, a data session record is created. In one embodiment,this step is preformed by PDSN 40 of macro network 20.

At step 120 an IP address is assigned to the mobile node and/or userinitiating the data call. In one embodiment this step is performed byPDSN 40. The assigned IP address is recorded in the data session recordcreated at step 115. In one embodiment storing the IP address in thedata session record is performed by PDSN 40 of macro network 20.

At step 125 the call data is processed in accordance with the identifiedaccess point 78 and the assigned IP address. The process continues untilordinary call termination and the process ends. During the call,location based services, pushed services, dynamic mapping,differentiated billing as well as other macro network services may beprovided for the data call by the macro network 20. In addition, thePDSN 40 of the macro network 20 may in connection with the PCF 72 in therouter 76 of micro network 30 mark and shape traffic to provide trafficmanagement and bandwidth control.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for processing a voice call in a microwireless network 30 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. In this embodiment, as described in connection with FIGS. 1and 2, the micro wireless network 30 communicates with PDSN 40 of themacro wireless network 20 through PCF 72 in router 76. PCF 72communicates with PDSN 40 using, in one embodiment, GRE protocol and anRP session between PCF 72 and PDSN 40. The method begins at step 200wherein a voice call is initiated in the micro network 30. Next at step205 an access point 78 associated with the mobile node 68 initiating avoice call is identified. In one embodiment, this may be at access point78 of the micro network 30.

Next at step 210 the mobile node and/or user initiating the voice callis authenticated. In one embodiment, the access point 78 communicateswith the mobile device 68 and the PCF gateway 72 of router 76 tocommunicate with the AAA proxy of PSDN 40.

Next, at step 215, upon authentication a data session record is created.In one embodiment, this step is performed by PDSN 40 of macro network20. Next at step 220 an IP address is assigned to the device/userinitiating the voice call.

Next at step 225 a voice-specific path is established. In oneembodiment, the voice-specific path is established via access point 78through RTP 74 and PCF 72 of router 76 and then through the voice module62 of PDSN 40 of macro network 20, and therefrom to the RTP 74 of PSDNgateway 44 of the macro network 20.

At step 230 voice traffic is processed in accordance with theestablished voice-specific path, assigned IP address, associated accesspoints 78 as well as protocols and operation in the micro network 30. Inone embodiment, voice traffic from the mobile node is converted from amobile node format for RF communications to a network format forcommunication in a wired network. Call processing proceeds as normaluntil the call ends and the process ends. During data, voice and othercalls handoff to the macro network 20 may occur as described in moredetail below.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for handoff, or handover, of a call sessionfrom a micro network 30 to the macro network 20 in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, both the RAN 43 and themicro network 30 use PCF 72 to communicate with PDSN 40. The PAN 43 andmicro network 30 may use other suitable interfaces to communicate withPDSN 40 or other suitable service node without departing from the scopeof the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the method begins at step 300 in which mobile node68 detects a handover condition. In one embodiment, the mobile node 68may detect a handover condition when its signal strength to the micronetwork is outside of a specified limit and/or signal strength with aBTS 66 of the macro network 20 is within a specified limit. Next, atstep 305, the mobile node 68 initiates traffic channel establishmentwith the macro network 20.

Proceeding to step 310, during traffic channel establishment, PDSN 40compares the MNID of the mobile to those for which it has activesessions and determines that it has an active session for the mobilenode 68. As previously described, the data session record may be createdwhen the mobile device 68 was authenticated and giving services throughthe micro network 30. At step 315, PDSN 40 changes the logical link forthe mobile node 68 from the PCF 72 of the micro network 30 to the PCF 72of the requesting BSC 42.

Next, at step 320, PDSN 40 continues and complete normal macro sessionestablishment procedures. However, because the IP address assigned tothe mobile node 68 is valid, during the IPCP negotiation the mobile node68 is expected not to receive a new IP address. In this way, a data orother session may be seamlessly or otherwise handed-off from the micronetwork 30 to the macro network 20.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for handover of an active session from themacro network 20 to the micro network 30 in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the RAN 43 ofthe macro network 20 and the micro network 30 each communicate with thePDSN 40 through PCF 72.

Referring to FIG. 5, the method begins at step 400 in which a handovercondition is detected. As previously described, a handover condition maybe detected by the mobile node 68 when the signal strength with the BTS66 of the macro network 20 is outside of a specified limit and/or whensignal strength with an access point of the micro network 20 is within alimit. Next, at step 405, the mobile node 68 initiates sessionestablishment with the micro network 30. In a particular embodiment, themobile node 68 includes an access card and initiates sessionestablishment using 802.11b protocols.

Proceeding to step 410, the micro network 30 requests authentication ofthe mobile node 68 and/or user through PDSN 40 of the macro network 20.As previously described, authentication and other services are providedthrough PCF 72 of router 76.

At decisional step 415, PDSN 40 determines whether it has an activesession with the mobile node 68. In one embodiment, PDSN 40 may storesession records for each active session of the macro and micro networks20 and 30 and may check the session records based on the MNID of themobile node 68. In addition, if PDSN 40 is part of a PDSN clusterincluding a plurality of connected PDSN nodes, the PDSN 40 receiving theauthentication request may check with the PDSNs in the cluster todetermine if an active session exists.

If PDSN 40 determines that it has an active session for the mobile node68 or a PDSN 40 in the cluster has an active session, the Yes branch ofdecisional step 415 leads to step 420. At step 420, the virtual path ofthe active session is re-anchored or changed from the macro network BSC42 to the micro network access point 78. Thus, traffic for the sessionwill now travel from PDSN 40 to the access point 78 of the micro network30 through PCF 72 of router 76. At step 425, establishment of thesession in the micro network 68 is completed using standardizedfunctionality.

Returning to decisional step 415, if an active session does not exist orcannot be determined, the No branch of decisional step 415 leads to step430. At step 430, a new session is established for the mobile node 68with the micro network 30 using standardized protocols. At step 435 theprevious session between the mobile node 68 and the macro network 20 istimed out and released. Step 435 as well as step 425 lead to the end ofthe process by which a call initiated in the macro network 20 may behanded off to the micro network 30. This may reduce loading on the macronetwork 20 for a given number of subscribers and thereby allow the macronetwork 20 to handle an increased number of subscribers and the networkoperator to increase revenues.

Although the present invention has been described with severalembodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to oneskilled in the art. It is intended that the present invention encompasssuch changes and modifications as falls within the scope of the appendedclaims.

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 22. An apparatus, comprising: a first routerthat includes a first interface, the first router being associated witha service node in a macro wireless network and the first router beingoperable to provide an authentication, authorization, and accounting(AAA) function for one or more access points, whereby the access pointscommunicate AAA commands to the first router to achieve respectiveauthentications, wherein a micro wireless network is coupled to theservice node of the macro wireless network, the micro wireless networkoperable to communicate information for a wireless session to theservice node via a second interface of a second router, the macrowireless network being operable to: receive via the second interface arequest to authenticate the handover of a particular wireless sessionfrom the macro wireless network to the micro wireless network; andmanage the authentication of the particular wireless session such thatthe particular wireless session may be handed over from the macrowireless network to the micro wireless network.
 23. The apparatus ofclaim 22, wherein the first and second interfaces comprise a packetcontrol function.
 24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the microwireless network comprises a wireless local access network (WLAN) andthe service node comprises a packet data serving node (PDSN).
 25. Theapparatus of claim 22, wherein the first router of the macro wirelessnetwork operates as a AAA proxy such that the access points send AAAdata to the first router instead of a AAA server during layer-twoauthentication, and wherein the access points include an IP address ofthe first router, which allows for AAA commands to be routed during thelayer-two authentication.
 26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein themacro network provides services to the session of the micro wirelessnetwork through a selected one or both of the first and secondinterfaces.
 27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the macro networkservices comprise push data services.
 28. The apparatus of claim 26,wherein the macro network allows for differential billing for subscriberservices.
 29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the macro networkservices comprise prepaid billing services.
 30. The apparatus of claim26, wherein the macro network services comprise traffic managementservices.
 31. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the macro networkservices comprise handoff services.
 32. A method for enlisting one ormore end users in a network environment in which two networkscommunicate, comprising: enlisting one or more end users in a billingplan associated with network communications; generating a billassociated with one or more of the end users, the bill being based onthe billing plan; and facilitating network communications for one ormore of the end users in response to the end users being enlisted in thebilling plan, whereby the network communications includes a protocolthat comprises: deploying a first router that includes a firstinterface, the first router being associated with a service node in amacro wireless network and the first router being operable to provide anauthentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) function for one ormore access points, whereby the access points communicate AAA commandsto the first router to achieve respective authentications, wherein amicro wireless network is coupled to the service node of the macrowireless network, the micro wireless network operable to communicateinformation for a wireless session to the service node via a secondinterface of a second router, the macro wireless network being operableto: receive via the second interface a request to authenticate thehandover of a particular wireless session from the macro wirelessnetwork to the micro wireless network; and manage the authentication ofthe particular wireless session such that the particular wirelesssession may be handed over from the macro wireless network to the microwireless network.
 33. The method of claim 31, wherein the first andsecond interfaces comprise a packet control function.
 34. The method ofclaim 31, wherein the micro wireless network comprises a wireless localaccess network (WLAN) and the service node comprises a packet dataserving node (PDSN).
 35. The method of claim 31, wherein the firstrouter of the macro wireless network operates as a AAA proxy such thatthe access points send AAA data to the first router instead of a AAAserver during layer-two authentication, and wherein the access pointsinclude an IP address of the first router, which allows for AAA commandsto be routed during the layer-two authentication.
 36. The method ofclaim 31, wherein the macro network provides services to the session ofthe micro wireless network through a selected one or both of the firstand second interfaces.
 37. The method of claim 36, wherein the macronetwork services comprise push data services.
 38. The method of claim36, wherein the macro network allows for differential billing forsubscriber services.
 39. The method of claim 36, wherein the macronetwork services comprise prepaid billing services.
 40. The method ofclaim 36, wherein the macro network services comprise traffic managementservices.
 41. The method of claim 36, wherein the macro network servicescomprise handoff services.